Irelands failure to address key positions now being severely exposed

[phinatic1399]

Luckily we have more cap and icks than any team in the league.

with a horrible gm who is allergic to playmakers

[67Stang]

His past first-round picks are questionable; we all know that. But I think most of us felt really good about the 2012 draft and generally good about the off-season (until we traded Marshall, for some). We did finish 6-3 last year, and started 4-3 this year.

Look at who we played and how we won for the most part....and who we lost to. This year, once teams took away our comeback routes and shut down the run, it has been ugly ever since. Hartline would be a number 4 on most teams and Bess is a slot receiver, not a 1 or 2.

[Harry_Bagpipe]

I'm kinda oversimplifying this but this thought kept coming in my head. I look at the top teams and ask myself who their best players are and come up with difference makers. Green Bay ... Rogers and clay. NE......Brady gronk and welker. Giants.....manning and Cruz Ravens.......Suggs and Reed. Pitt......big Ben and polamalu. You might switch some of the names but you get my point

I look at our team and when I ask the same question I come up with a center and a punter. A center and a punter. Depressing

[iwastherein72]

I'm kinda oversimplifying this but this thought kept coming in my head. I look at the top teams and ask myself who their best players are and come up with difference makers. Green Bay ... Rogers and clay. NE......Brady gronk and welker. Giants.....manning and Cruz Ravens.......Suggs and Reed. Pitt......big Ben and polamalu. You might switch some of the names but you get my point

I look at our team and when I ask the same question I come up with a center and a punter. A center and a punter. Depressing

I don't see where Pouncey is a difference-maker at all on this horrible o-line. Not one bit. And I'm a Gator who has always been a fan of his.

[Southbeach 2]

Everybody on here knew going into the season that we had huge holes on this team that desperately needed to be addressed. Through the first few weeks of the season we were able to disguise those flaws but now teams have adapted and we cant even beat the drudges of the league.

1. WR- Ireland traded away our #1 alpha WR who is having a career year and never made an attempt to replace him. Instead he gave us Naanee and bj cunningham. Knowing that we were going to take Tannehill in the draft this should have been addressed. Instead we send our rookie QB out there with the worst WR core in the leauge and it is now showing. Teams are Now only rushing 4 guys and dropping 7 in coverage because they know hartline or bess cant beat them deep so the young kid is forced to throw into double and triple coverage, hence the 5 combined ints in 2 games. It Just blows my mind that you would draft a rookie qb and not give him some weapons to help him develop instead he is now regressing and this could be a blow to him mentally. Blame goes to ireland.

2. Seem Threat TE- this team has desperately needed a playmaking TE since mcmichael was traded. Ireland has been here 5 years now and still hasnt addressed this issue it almost like he could care less. Fasano is a nice #2 TE but lets be honest he is not a dynamic playmaker and defenses do not gameplan for him. A seem threat TE is a QB's best friend. There is nothing like knowing you have a 6'6 target to be your security blanket. We took egnew in the 3rd round and he cant sniff the field. The steelers took paulson in the 7th and he actually contributes, how sad. Blame ireland.

3. Pass rush- Wake is the only legit pass rusher on this team. Vernon has made some nice special teams plays and has a few coverage sacks but that is it. We cant rely on one guy to get to the qb every game. We need multiple options and we dont have that and were being exposed. WHEN YOUR TEAM MVP IS A PUNTER SOMETHING IS SERIOUSLY WRONG!!!!!!!

4. CB- Dont get me started on this trainwreck. Sean Smith is terrible and is constantly Out of position with his back turned. Another waste of a 2nd round pick. Carrol doesnt even belong on and nfl roster and wilson is a poor excuse for a nickel corner. We Signed marshall who was suppose to man the nickel but was forced into the boundary when we traded davis and now marshall is hurt. I still think the davis trade was a good move but for rj standford to be the backup plan was a joke. The whole secondary needs to be gutted next year because it has been exposed big time this year. The whole lack of personnel planning around this vital position is a joke. The nfl is a passing league now with spread 5 wr sets but ireland doesn't undestand that.

5. RG/RT- It was addressed but how succesful was it? Why we signed artis hicks to begin with is beyond me. Martin shows promise but his lack of strenght is a huge concern. He was getting abused last night and has been lately. Mario Williams threw him down like he was a 175lb kicker. I think martin ranks pretty low with PFF. Jerry has played ok but cannot get to the second level on run plays so we cant run the ball to the right side. And now whats most conerning is the fact that Long is a complete shell of himself and watching him get blown up by that washed up roid head merriman was confirmation for me to let him walk. Its concerning and now the running game is completely done we literally cannot run the football.

6. FS- Clemons has been servicable, nothing great but not horrible. His tackling has improved and he has 2ints but we need better than servicable. We need a ball hawking FS that makes plays more often. This position still hasnt been addressed since hill left and that failed attempt with gibril wilson was a joke. Reshad Jones has been a bright spot and had locked down the SS spot in my opinion.

This team is now being exposed of its weaknesess and i cannot sit here and tell u i have any faith at all with ireland handling these draft picks and cap space. My dream would be for Ross and Peterson to head up a search for a new gm and maybe bring in an omar kahn, decosta, or polian.

My problem with your OP is that you offer no alternative solutions. Finding problems is easy, and everyone here would love to have better players. The problem is they have to be available.

The only two players, who were available, that I had a problem in not going after were Manningham and Winston. I know, for a fact, we could have signed Winston, no idea on Manningham. That's it.

Who else did you have in mind?

[Dolphins7273]

Only now? You folks must be blind.

[PhinzN703]

Everybody on here knew going into the season that we had huge holes on this team that desperately needed to be addressed. Through the first few weeks of the season we were able to disguise those flaws but now teams have adapted and we cant even beat the drudges of the league.

1. WR- Ireland traded away our #1 alpha WR who is having a career year and never made an attempt to replace him. Instead he gave us Naanee and bj cunningham. Knowing that we were going to take Tannehill in the draft this should have been addressed. Instead we send our rookie QB out there with the worst WR core in the leauge and it is now showing. Teams are Now only rushing 4 guys and dropping 7 in coverage because they know hartline or bess cant beat them deep so the young kid is forced to throw into double and triple coverage, hence the 5 combined ints in 2 games. It Just blows my mind that you would draft a rookie qb and not give him some weapons to help him develop instead he is now regressing and this could be a blow to him mentally. Blame goes to ireland.

2. Seem Threat TE- this team has desperately needed a playmaking TE since mcmichael was traded. Ireland has been here 5 years now and still hasnt addressed this issue it almost like he could care less. Fasano is a nice #2 TE but lets be honest he is not a dynamic playmaker and defenses do not gameplan for him. A seem threat TE is a QB's best friend. There is nothing like knowing you have a 6'6 target to be your security blanket. We took egnew in the 3rd round and he cant sniff the field. The steelers took paulson in the 7th and he actually contributes, how sad. Blame ireland.

3. Pass rush- Wake is the only legit pass rusher on this team. Vernon has made some nice special teams plays and has a few coverage sacks but that is it. We cant rely on one guy to get to the qb every game. We need multiple options and we dont have that and were being exposed. WHEN YOUR TEAM MVP IS A PUNTER SOMETHING IS SERIOUSLY WRONG!!!!!!!

4. CB- Dont get me started on this trainwreck. Sean Smith is terrible and is constantly Out of position with his back turned. Another waste of a 2nd round pick. Carrol doesnt even belong on and nfl roster and wilson is a poor excuse for a nickel corner. We Signed marshall who was suppose to man the nickel but was forced into the boundary when we traded davis and now marshall is hurt. I still think the davis trade was a good move but for rj standford to be the backup plan was a joke. The whole secondary needs to be gutted next year because it has been exposed big time this year. The whole lack of personnel planning around this vital position is a joke. The nfl is a passing league now with spread 5 wr sets but ireland doesn't undestand that.

5. RG/RT- It was addressed but how succesful was it? Why we signed artis hicks to begin with is beyond me. Martin shows promise but his lack of strenght is a huge concern. He was getting abused last night and has been lately. Mario Williams threw him down like he was a 175lb kicker. I think martin ranks pretty low with PFF. Jerry has played ok but cannot get to the second level on run plays so we cant run the ball to the right side. And now whats most conerning is the fact that Long is a complete shell of himself and watching him get blown up by that washed up roid head merriman was confirmation for me to let him walk. Its concerning and now the running game is completely done we literally cannot run the football.

6. FS- Clemons has been servicable, nothing great but not horrible. His tackling has improved and he has 2ints but we need better than servicable. We need a ball hawking FS that makes plays more often. This position still hasnt been addressed since hill left and that failed attempt with gibril wilson was a joke. Reshad Jones has been a bright spot and had locked down the SS spot in my opinion.

This team is now being exposed of its weaknesess and i cannot sit here and tell u i have any faith at all with ireland handling these draft picks and cap space. My dream would be for Ross and Peterson to head up a search for a new gm and maybe bring in an omar kahn, decosta, or polian.

Hopefully these positions get solidified before next year. With the cap room and amount of draft picks the Dolphins have, they have a great shot at accomplishing it.

[Harry_Bagpipe]

I don't see where Pouncey is a difference-maker at all on this horrible o-line. Not one bit. And I'm a Gator who has always been a fan of his.

Kinda my point. Our arguably two best players aren't difference makers because they are a center and a punter.

[hooshoops]

eric winstons more a locker room distraction than solid football player at this stage...he's headed down the marc colombo road here soon...

[CANDolphan]

Kinda my point. Our arguably two best players aren't difference makers because they are a center and a punter.

If you told me you were a huge dolphins fan then proceeded to tell me that the biggest difference makers were a punter and a center I'd call you a liar.

How you can sit there and say Cameron Wake isn't a playmaker is beyond me